Lancashire Cricket Board:<\/b> Fast bowling great James Anderson has said Lancashire\u2019s decision not to renew his contract in the county championship made him question whether the fault \u2018fundamentally\u2019 lies with him as a person.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Anderson, England\u2019s leading Test wicket-taker with 704 dismissals, added that he was \u2018sad\u2019 and \u2018shocked\u2019 by the decision and has yet to make up his mind about playing on for another county.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Anderson captained Lancashire last season and took 50 County Championship wickets, but the team finished second from bottom in Division Two. \u201cAll of the way through the season myself and the head coach were like \u2018is it something we are doing? Could we be doing more to help the team?\u2019<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI finished the season thinking, \u2018was it something I did? Was I doing something wrong?\u2019 - and then I get this news. Now I am thinking that even more. I am thinking \u2018this is happening again. Is there something fundamentally wrong with me as a person?\u2019 Your head just sort of races.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI wanted to see my career out with Lancs. I don\u2019t know if my career is done, we will have to wait and see, but it would be nice at some point if someone would let me retire,\u201d said Anderson on the BBC Tailenders podcast.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The \u2018again\u2019 refers to 2024, when England ended Anderson\u2019s Test career as the side set about building a new pace attack for the Ashes trip in Australia. This time the news came from Lancashire\u2019s incoming director of cricket Paul Farbrace, who met Anderson along with new chief executive Richard Kenyon and told him the club wanted to build an attack for the future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI went in for what I thought was a conversation about how the team moves forward. It wasn\u2019t a great year for the team. Being a captain I thought it was chat about that. A couple of minutes in I realised it wasn\u2019t a conversation. I was being told they thought the best way for the team to move forward was without me. I was quite shocked. It was quite brief,\u201d added Anderson.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The decision to move on from Anderson has upset many Lancashire members. Stuart Broad, Anderson\u2019s long-time new-ball partner for England, called it \u2018pretty disrespectful\u2019 and said denying the veteran a farewell showed poor leadership at the club.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Anderson first appeared in List A cricket in 2000 as a 17-year-old, playing for the Lancashire Cricket Board against Suffolk. Along with his 911 international wickets, the most by any England player and by any fast bowler in history, he has taken 443 first-class wickets for the county, while taking 83 and 50 scalps in List A matches and T20 games respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Other counties are understood to be interested in signing Anderson, who turns 45 next summer. Asked about a move to arch-rivals Yorkshire, he joked that he \u2018wouldn\u2019t have thought\u2019 it was possible, but admitted to slowly coming to terms with what had happened.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI am still trying to process everything and weigh up the best way forward for me. It has been 10 days since it happened. I am starting to get excited about the future, whether it is something different or playing cricket again. It is exciting. There are exciting challenges ahead. I have to attack it like that and not dwell too much on how or why it finished at Lancs.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Despite the manner of his exit, Anderson said his bond with Lancashire remains intact. \u201cI am sad the way it ended with the club I supported as a kid but now that I have thought about it, I am quite excited for the future. I am always going to support Lancashire.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI am still trying to process everything and weigh up the best way forward for me. It has been 10 days since it happened. I am starting to get excited about the future, whether it is something different or playing cricket again. It is exciting. There are exciting challenges ahead. I have to attack it like that and not dwell too much on how or why it finished at Lancs.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Also Read: <\/b> Special Cricket Stories<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n